Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Jorgensen at the Jorgensen

I am a graduate of the University of Connecticut, UConn, class of 1973 (yes, I am old!). When I attended UConn, I was an aspiring writer and considered journalism as an outlet for my writing talent. So, I took a journalism class (and soon discovered that I did not want to be a journalist).

Our professor randomly assigned stories to us budding reporters. One assignment was to report on a lecture by Christine Jorgensen that the famous transwoman was presenting at UConn's Jorgensen Auditorium (no, the auditorium was not named after her).

As a closeted crossdressing 21-year-old, I was thrilled with the assignment (Ms. Jorgensen was one of my heroines), but I had to feign disinterest so as not to give anything away! In fact, I was so closeted that I feared that if anyone found out that I attended the lecture, I would become a marked man/transwoman.

I had seen photos, but had never encountered a trans-person in person, at least, not to my knowledge. Seeing Christine up on the stage giving her talk was my first trans-encounter and it was a very positive experience. There was no doubt in my mind that Christine was really a woman and it gave me pause that maybe I was one, too.




source: Nine West
Wearing Nine West (source: Nine West).




Adam Mišík and Petr Rychlý as Petr Janů and Petr Janda on Czech Republic's version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 11, 2017

    I would have loved to read more about her talk, your impressions, and feelings. I'm about five years younger than you and I also well remember surreptitiously reading any article I found about Christine Jorgensen. She was dignified, articulate, and I always admired her clarity of purpose. Given my self shame I'm sure that, like you, I would have been both excited to see her but also fearful that my secret would be exposed. Thank goodness we are gradually putting those feelings behind us.

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    1. I don't recall much except being impressed how nice she looked. There is a possibility that the report I submitted for my journalism class is stored with my college stuff. If I find it, I will post it here,

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